Time magazine showcases Top 10 photos of 2012

Time magazine has published its Top 10 photos of 2012. As part of its end-of-year series including the 'most surprising pictures of the year' and the 'Top 10 Photographic Magazine Covers', this set includes the images that moved the team the most in 2012. "They all deliver a strong emotional impact — whether they show a child mourning his father who was killed by a sniper in Syria; a heartbreaking scene in a Gaza City morgue or a haunting landscape of New Jersey coastline after Hurricane Sandy" says Kira Pollack, Time's Director of Photography.

"In front of me, a group of men that had just stormed into the room were facing the cruel reality of discovering the dead body of a loved one. Everything was happening very fast, but I remember seeing a teardrop falling over the inert hand and whispering “ma’a salama” (goodbye in Arabic). I’ve always thought that war brings out the best and the worst in humans. To me, this was a sad and tender moment of love." - Bernat Armangue (AP) . Gaza City. Nov. 18, 2012.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think those photos are much more intersting. Almost every one of them have something special about the composition and there is also depth to the sense of drama they evoke. Enjoy!

No, you cannot beat that, Valiant Thor. Lets ignore for a moment that the Gaza wars started because the Palestinians launched thousands of rockets on israeli cities for years. According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, in the 2008/2009 Gaza war, 1,417 were killed, of which 926 where civilians. According to the Palestinians, in the 2012 Gaza war, 160 where killed, of which 105 were civilians. In the raging Syrian Civil War, according to the opposition forces, around 42,000 Syrians were killed so far, of which roughly half, or 20,000, were civilians. You do the math, Valiant Thor. You better check your facts before spreading lies.

The point is not who started what war, but how so-called photo journalists exploit the misery of conflict. Judging by the above comments, who needs pictures to demonstrate human vanity...Or is this no longer a forum for photography?

The fact that the World (including Times magazine) starts to see things from Palestinians' aspect means something.

It is time for the world to awaken.

The land does not belong to you just because people from a same religion of you lived there several thousands of years ago. I would not be entitled for a piece as soon as I arrive there just because I am from the same religion.

Imagine your neighbors on three sides of your home (right, left, and behind) hated you have dedicated their lives, and the lives of their ancestors and grandchildren to see you no longer draw breath...

That TIME see things from the Palestinian viewpoint is irrelevant, because a single image tells NONE of the story. A consistent stream of unbiased images from both sides of a conflict...then I give a damn. Barring that, it's just propaganda...

I agree Nerval, I would blame most of these conflicts on the US and UK especially because of what happened after world war 2 and how we still tamper world politics and economies, and now the US treats its own prisoners just as cruelly as any third world country does, go figure, pot kettle black Humanity (and I mean ALL of humanity) is just as worthless and ignorant as it has always been, as we destroy the environment, pollute our own foods in the name of the all mighty dollar (Monsanto) and destroy our climate with fossil fuels while we pop prescription pills and overmedicate ourselves to cover up the fact that our lifestyle causes our physical and mental ailments and its something no chemical can cure. America has become a plutocracy (it's ironic how that rhymes with hypocrisy) which highly favors the rich and powerful regardless of which party is in power and the rest of the world has followed suit.

It's also ironic that while we are supposedly trying to protect our country from outside forces we are destroying it from within by taking away personal freedoms, in the words of Ben Franklin "Those who favor security over freedom deserve NEITHER."

I read some of the members comments that photography is about emotion. In my view, photography is an art form and as such it is measured by the meaning it conveys not the emotional response it surely evokes.

In our times, sensationalism is omnipresent and crowned in visual media. Photography is -tragically- often an instrument of marketing at various levels of sophistication, from the distorted body images of fashion and gossip magazines to opinion-shaping prestigious news publications. The message is traded off for stark and mere impression; the harder is hits the senses the better it serves the purpose. Such purpose is not related to art but to guided emotional response towards achieving the publisher's goals.

I don't imply that TIME is one such publisher; not necessarily, that is. But more or less we are all entrenched and drenched in a sensationalist culture. Let's hope we will get over it before it consumes us.

Is it 2013 already? And here I thought we had a couple more weeks left in 2012. I guess any photos shot from December 13 to 31 are deemed unworthy. We might as well put our cameras away until January 1...TIME has spoken.

Mainstream media is dedicated to generating fear and stress for the purpose of control and emotional manipulation. The only facts you can trust in a copy of Time Magazine are the date and price. Look to beauty, not because the horror is not present, but that focusing on what makes you feel inspired and hopeful generate chemicals and frequencies in our bodies that are forces of healing and growth, instead of disease and destruction. In my field of epigenetics, this is known as the biology of perception.

Of course these are emotional - they say they are the "pictures that moved us most" - and they are the picks of a few journalists.

To be fair, this only one group of "best photos of the year" Time is publishing. For the year they also have a Best Portraits, Best Photojournalism, Most Surprising Pictures, Best Magazine Covers, etc.

Unlike many others I think there are some wonderful provocative images here. I do agree though that the themes are a little narrow. I'm a Brit and we had some pretty spectacular positive stuff going on here this year - anyone remember the Olympic Games or the Jubilee?

I agree. Those photos are completely forgettable. Especially the "secret" shot of Obama preparing for a speech. Obama obviously knew that the photographer was there, and the smile looks completely fake, more like "how did you get in here? Please get him out, I need to prepare for the speech".

I could have taken that picture! If only I'd thought of it. If only I'd been there. If only I'd anticipated the subject would be there and do that at that moment. If only I'd planned ahead to be at the front of the crowd. If only I'd been willing to risk my life traveling though shelling and war and checkpoints controlled by 17-year-olds with AK-47s. If only I'd brought a fast prime lens. If only I'd schlepped a heavy bag of equipment halfway around the world for weeks and weeks away from home and family. Yeah, I could have taken that picture.

All that is true but it doesn't make the photos any more interesting because you or I are unlikely to put ourselves in the position to take them. The Atlantic selection was far superior to my eyes; having made the effort the photographers then found something extra for their images.

Granted it does (Time's choices) seem somewhat unbalanced in the death and misery department, and it's not at a good time for that for any of us who keep track of the news...There is a point where overload occurs, and a point where the right of privacy (and dignity) is a question. I think the real question is 'reportage' or sensationalism?...but of course those judgments differ. Where does morbid voyeurism start? and where does making people aware end? Guess we can only answer that for ourselves.

Let's pretend. That there was no Magnum, that Robert Cappa didn't die from a land mine, that Eugene Smith didn't get the Cr*p knocked out of him for exposing Minamata disease, that all of Walker Evans and Dorthea Lange's photography is meaningless. Or Alex Majoli's coverage of various not so pleasant wars and situations. I'm not defending the framing, the tonality, etc. of these Time magazine photos, but how do you dismiss a whole genre of photography just because it rocks the boat? Let's sugar coat the world, so it doesn't upset anyone, and we can all run on the treadmill of consumer complacency. If you don't like it, or if it disturbs...don't look.

I would venture to say if you don't like it change it, don't just pretend it doesn't exist. Time Magazine is covering world issues and unfortunately this is what most of the world is having to deal with. Seeing these photos disturbs me, I wish I could come up with a solution to end this global waring. Sadly, I by myself cannot, if these images disturb you speak out and try to stop these photo ops from occurring. That is why Time or any other magazine chooses them. To inform and provoke us.

Photos of misery always seem to get high praise... Any dimwit with a camera phone could have gotten those. Nothing special about any of them. Just some a'hole who gets paid to capture someone else' personal tragedies. Gross. Time should have waited. I'm sure there are many pictures of the parents of children massacred in the Conn shooting available for Time magazines consideration. "Moved them the most" What a joke. Shouldn't even have a category like that.

+1 With the amount of opportunities for misery shots in todays world it would be more of a feat and good reporting to report good and nice things for a change. I am sure our collective minds would appreciate a positive thought once in a while. For the health of our minds.

I agree with you in so far as there is an imbalance of misery and happiness in the collection, however I don't agree that any dimwit could have gotten these images. They might not be of immense artistic value but they are of immense social value. The fact that these events are being documented and published to a western audience is a feat in itself. We are so used to being projected a false, harmonious image of the world that when we see something that challenges our naive perception we take offence. Photography isn't all about pretty pictures. Just because the media shelter us from the atrocities in the world, it doesn't mean that they are not happening. Photography is THE medium of objective reporting and has a duty to capture both moments of joy and moments of misery.

Yes Rick. Excellent point. We as a culture sensationalize this stuff, particularly in movies and TV and then ask, "how does something like what in CT happen". Let's place a BandAid on it so we all feel better.

There are responsibilities that come with rights. Everyone is so quick to state their rights but forget the other part. You and I do not have an inalienable right to free speech without boundaries, never have, never will. Get over it.

Michael, do you really think there is "Freedom of speech" in America? Yeah, I guess YOU can say anything you want, BUT, when it comes to the overwhelming majority of our mainstream "news" papers and TV news/shows the news and stories are parsed through a political slant deluding the masses with propaganda.

That is freedom of speech gone awry.

TIME is just another pawn in the Progressive perspective our country has chosen to take. Not my cup of tea and hardly "freedom of speech" when the views of slightly less than 1/2 the country is squelched and or censured

Keep in mind that some photos in war areas are stagged photos, a photo shoot per say. And DPR's news item of faked photos just this week is another knife in the heart of these types of photos. Good "real" moments now are hard to come by in photos.

Time is obviously judging the content not the execution. Without a back story none of these are particularly good photographs. We are presented with a camera-phone snapshot of a boy crying. Why? Did his soccer team lose? He dropped his ice cream? Oh his father was killed. How? Was it a lawnmower accident? Oh he was killed by a Syrian army sniper. Ok now I get it. Yes that's a "Photograph of the Year"!

Time is in the business of selling human tragedy. This is what they reward. The technical execution of the photograph is secondary.

Stories and pictures, both can trigger emotions. Whatever it takes to interest you in what's going on outside of your comfort zone is a success. There wouldn't be a story without that picture - at least a story here, in this forum. Compassion is a foreign emotion for those who have it all.

Time faithfully continues the old media tradition that nothing livens up the page like a dead body. Read the quote from Kira Pollack at the top.

People have access to other sources of information. Media moguls see that their empires are crumbling, and all they can come up with is more suffering and violence. Pandering to the lowest common denominator. I got rid of my TV years ago because that's pretty much all that networks feed you with, combined with imbecilic soap operas. They can't understand that populace may want more intelligent content, now easily available on the Internet. It scares them because I don't think most of them can understand that content themselves. That's why they're disappearing.

Majority of photos are indeed very strong and emotionally charged. But there’s a problem and it isn’t in an overwhelming number of images depicting tragedies and human suffering. This choice is natural and has nothing to do with “liberal” slant as was mentioned in one of earlier threads. What’s disturbing and indeed reflects bias is double standard in choosing victims based on whose tears and corpses are currently more politically en vogue. Take Syria for example. Are deaths and suffering only on one side? Assad is a damn butcher and tyrant but ragtag bands of guys on the other side are also far from being angels, bear a lot of innocent blood on their hands and aren’t known for valuing human life any higher. Little kid having to bury his father isn’t less deserving of chronicling his tragedy because his dad was on a wrong side of a line between good and evil that Time PC gurus have drawn from the safe distance. Same, even worse, goes for Gaza.

Why do people constantly talk about ''emotion'' in relation to photography? The problem with a pre-occupation with a desire to ''deliver emotional impact'' is that things get a bit cheesy. Because pro photographers will always be only pre-occupied with making more money and fame and winning more prizes than to deliver emotional impact free of charge. So we end up getting lame photographs of emotional impact being delivered to someone else. Art reduced to curiosity and voyeurism. The wounded citizen or Warren Buffett, take your pick.

OK, so what would the anti-Time critics pick a the 10 best news photos of the year? Very likely, the images would be other views of disaster, mayhem, rescues, or mourning. When your neighbor is berieved, do you pick a shot of a touchdown pass as "the most memoriable image of 2012"? Or should that image be a sonogram of an expected Royal heir? Images of flags, steeples, and mother? A dwarves' cottage and Bambi by a silver stream?

Good things happened in 2012, surely, but do they allow for imaginative photographic depiction? Will any rank as "important events" after 10 years?

Heavens, think of the temerity if Time ventured to pick a "Camera of the Year"? Oh, the carnage that would ensue!

The only thing sadder than the shear amount of mayhem is the notion that this is what it takes to make a memorable picture. Publish these enough and they will be iconic but after enough of these in a row they start to cancel out.

Umm the name of the magazine is Time as in these current times. But I agree somewhat, all this shows us is that nothing has changed since humans figured out fire - we like to kill each other and make even more suffer. I do prefer to see them in a row rather than one image of a dead person next to an ad picturing little white kids enjoying their peanut butter.

The execs picking these photo's are clearly attracted to a certain genre of photography. That being said, this may be Times pride and joy, but I've seen far more engaging photography from DPReview members over the year.

Not true. The better part of media attention seems to go to female celebrities whose sole significance is that every non-event in their daily agenda becomes an object of gawking and gossip. The people are "newsworthy" because the Suzies and Sams track such celebrities incessantly, vastly dwarfing the amount of attention given to anything else, except perhaps self-improvement, weight loss, apparel, and weather. Knowledge becomes altogether incoherent and sketchy if the topic becomes political, economic, or scientific.

Latest in-depth reviews

The Fujifilm X-H1 is a top-of-the-range 24MP mirrorless camera with in-body stabilization and the company's most advanced array of video capabilities. We've been shooting with one for a while now and have put together a gallery, a sample video and some preliminary analysis.

Panasonic's Lumix DC-GX9 is a rangefinder-style mirrorless camera that offers quite a few upgrades over its predecessor, with a lower price tag to boot. We've spent the weekend with the GX9 and have plenty of thoughts to share, along with an initial set of sample photos.

Panasonic's new premium compact boasts a 24-360mm equiv. F3.3-6.4 zoom lens, making it the longest reaching 1"-type pocket camera on the market. We spent a little time with it; read our first impressions.

The Panasonic GH5S is best understood as an even more video-centric variant of the GH5. We've tested it in a range of circumstances to see whether the video improvements are worth the loss of stabilization.

Latest buying guides

Landscape photography isn't as simple as just showing up in front of a beautiful view and taking a couple of pictures. Landscape shooters have a unique set of needs and requirements for their gear, and we've selected some of our favorites in this buying guide.

Quick. Unpredictable. Unwilling to sit still. Kids really are the ultimate test for a camera's autofocus system. We've compiled a short list of what we think are the best options for parents trying to keep up with young kids, and narrowed it down to one best all-rounder.

If you're a serious enthusiast or working pro, the very best digital cameras on the market will cost you at least $2000. That's a lot of money, but generally speaking these cameras offer the highest resolution, the best build quality and the most advanced video specs out there, as well as fast burst rates and top-notch autofocus.

Are you a speed freak? Hungry to photograph anything that goes zoom? Or perhaps you just want to get Sports Illustrated level shots of your child's soccer game. Keep reading to find out which cameras we think are best for sports and action shooting.

Sony has made something of a break-through in sensor development with a new backside-illuminated CMOS sensor that is capable of global shutter, a huge improvement over current CMOS global shutter technology.

Microsoft has released a new "Ultimate Performance" mode for Windows 10 Pro for Workstations—a mode that throws all power management out the window (so to speak) in favor of the best possible performance it can pull from your hardware.

"Jurist Thomas Borberg said in a WPP-produced video that 'You have to be able to feel a World Press Photo in your stomach. If not, it’s not a World Press Photo.' Given this position, it’s not surprising that violent images are the ones that provoke stomach churning reactions."

The Fujifilm X-H1 is a top-of-the-range 24MP mirrorless camera with in-body stabilization and the company's most advanced array of video capabilities. We've been shooting with one for a while now and have put together a gallery, a sample video and some preliminary analysis.

With the release of its Fujinon MKX 18-55mm T2.9 and MKX 50-135mm T2.9 cinema lenses, Fujifilm finally gives X-mount shooters access to some great lenses that have already been available to E-mount shooters for months.

Fujifilm's newest X-series camera takes video very seriously, but also offers a strong stills feature set largely borrowed from the X-T2. We've had some time with a full-production X-H1 that luckily coincided with a little bit of rare February sunshine.

The Korean manufacturer will introduce a suite of AI technologies for its smartphones, including a Vision AI that puts the focus on camera usability and performance. The 2018 version of the flagship LG V30 will be the first device to feature the new tech.

Directors from six US intelligence agencies—including the CIA, FBI, and NSA—have told the Senate Intelligence Committee that it does not recommend Americans purchase Huawei devices, citing multiple security concerns.

Skydio claims the autonomous R1 drone is "the most advanced autonomous device—of any kind—available today." It uses the NVIDIA Jetson AI to continuously track you, even through complex environments like dense woods.

Tamron just published a teaser image that seems to show a new mirrorless zoom lens is "coming soon." An official announcement is probably planned for CP+, but join us for some good ol' fashioned speculation in the meantime.

The Loxia 25mm F2.4 joins four other manual-focus Loxia lenses designed specifically for Sony's full-frame mirrorless cameras—a "small, robust and versatile" lens that will keep your kit light and inconspicuous when you're on the go.

With video-centric cameras like the Panasonic GH5S in the office, it seemed high time to learn how to shoot with a gimbal. After a struggle up the learning curve, DPR staffer has found some sort of equilibrium.

Nominally at least, the new Panasonic Lumix DC-GX9 is the successor to the GX8. But while it has a lot in common with the earlier model, the new camera comes with some serious updates, and a couple of caveats. Here's what you need to know.

Fujifilm's Imaging Solutions division recorded a revenue of $2.77 billion and operating income of $465 million in the first three quarters of 2017. That's a 15.6% increase in year-on-year revenue and a whopping 76.1% jump in operating income over the same period last year.

Photographer David Nadlinger won the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's (EPSRC) science photography contest with an incredible image that actually lets you see a single atom of strontium with the naked eye!